Heroic People Are Invincible

STRONG earthquake occurred recently in the Tangshan-Fengnan area of Hopei Province and affected the Tientsin-Peking area. Under the loving care of our great leader Chairman Mao and the Party Central Committee and with the energetic support and assistance of the people throughout the country, the people in the stricken area have fought heroically and won great victories in the struggle to combat the quake and carry out relief work. We pay high tribute to the masses of the people and cadres who are fighting in the forefront and to the comrades of the People's Liberation Army, the medical teams and other fronts who are working to help the afflicted area. Chairman Mao has taught us: "This army has an indomitable spirit and is determined to vanquish all enemies and never to yield." The recent grave natural disaster has tested and tempered our people. The masses and cadres in the stricken area are fearless and are holding their heads high in the face of the disaster which hit them with deadly force. Full of confidence and militancy, they have displayed the revolutionary spirit that man will surely conquer nature; they have quickly organized themselves to rescue people and property, made every possible effort to ensure the livelihood of the masses, worked energetically to restore production, communications and transport and waged an unremitting struggle against this serious natural disaster. In this struggle, the masses have cared for each other, and they have shown love for and helped each other, putting public interest before self-interest and the interest of others above their own. There are numerous moving examples of heroic deeds. Some workers and poor and lower-middle peasants have laid down their lives to rescue their class brothers. Leading cadres at various levels have been directing the struggle on the spot, shaking the danger and hardships of the masses. Some leading comrades, though they themselves had been injured, plunged into the battle as soon as they were rescued. Large numbers of commanders and fighters of the People's Liberation Army have rushed to the seriously afflicted places to do rescue and relief work despite the great danger. Some medical workers, regardless of their own serious wounds, have worked with perseverance to rescue the injured. With their own deeds, the comrades carrying on the struggle against the earthquake and doing relief work have composed a magnificent song of revolutionary heroism. The people throughout the country, whose hearts beat in unison with those of the afflicted people, regard the difficulties of the people in the stricken area as their own. They share the wishes and concern of the afflicted people. When one place is in difficulty, help comes from all sides. With regard to manpower and materials, top priority is given to the needs of the afflicted area and whatever is needed is provided. Some places which were afflicted themselves have done their utmost to assist the seriously hit area of their own accord. A large number of medical teams have rushed to the stricken area. Large quantities of medicines, food, clothing, building materials and other relief supplies are pouring into the afflicted area from all parts of the country. This makes a vivid scene of nationwide unity in relief efforts and embodies the great power of self-reliance and the lofty communist spirit of our people. All this shows in a deep-going way that our heroic people armed with Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetunq Thought and tempered in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution are invincible, that our socialist system under the dictatorship of the- proletariat has immense superiority and that the conscientious study by the cadres and masses of the theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat, the restriction of bourgeois right, the criticism of Teng Hsiao-ping's counter-revolutionary revisionist line and the struggle to beat back the Right deviationist attempt have yielded fruitful results. Led by the Communist Party and guided by Chairman Mao's revolutionary line, our people can surmount any difficulty and create any miracle. As Chairman Mao has pointed out: "No difficulties can prevent people from advancing; we can drive difficulties away provided we fight against them and held on to the end." The people in the afflicted area said proudly: "When there is a quake, we meet it with a revolution." "No hurricane can knock us down, and no strong earthquake can topple us. Be it hurricane or quake, we will be victorious." At present, we should resolutely respond to the militant call of Chairman Mao and the Party Central Committee, conscientiously study Chairman Mao's important instructions, take class struggle as the key link, deepen the great struggle to criticize Teng Hsiao-ping and repulse the Right deviationist attempt and link it with the reality of class struggle and two-line struggle on various fronts, and score new victories in the anti-quake struggle and relief work. We have the strength, confidence and ability to defeat Teng Hsiao-ping's counter-revolutionary revisionist line and also the strength, confidence and ability to conquer the serious natural disaster. We firmly believe that, with Chairman Mao's revolutionary line as our guide, with leadership from the Party Central Committee headed by Chairman Mao and the Party committees at all levels and with the warm support of the people across the country, the people in the stricken area will surely surmount all difficulties, rebuild their homes and continue their triumphant advance along the broad road of socialism.